Mankind has enjoyed for centuries games played upon game boards designed for play by two opposing players. Chess and checkers are representatives of such games. Both games have endured several centuries of play and presently remain popular games amongst game board playing enthusiasts. Much of the success of these two enduring games may be attributed to the game board and strategy of play.
Numerous attempts have been made to modify or improve upon the game of chess and checkers by altering or changing the game board or its game play. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,997,165 by Barsky discloses a checkers-like game played upon a game board similar in shape and general appearance to a king game checker board.
The patent literature also discloses games played upon game boards which contain a plurality of hexagonal spaces. U.S. Pat. No. 529,582 by Beaman discloses a game board containing a plurality of hexagonal playing spaces separated by triangular spaces. The U.S. Pat. No. 529,582 is a game played by moving the game pieces from one hexagonal block to another. In another patent issued to Beaman (U.S. Pat. No. 1,704,819), a game board of hexagonal spaces likewise separated by triangular spaces is disclosed. The U.S. Pat. No. 1,704,819 game board differs from the U.S. Pat. No. 529,582 game board by its centrally disposed playing area and neutral zones.
Each of the Beaman patents rely upon a game play similar to King's checkers. Similar to checkers, commencement of play is initiated with unkinged plying pieces which are permitted to only move forwardly towards the opponent's side. In both of the aforementioned Beaman patents, the triangular spaces are not a part of the game play. The Beaman patents disclose game boards which contain from 9 to 13 horizontal rows of hexagonal playing spaces with the outer rows thereof being devoid of any outwardly projecting triangles or an outer row arrangement of hexagrams.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,658,503 by Vincent discloses a game board containing triangular spacings with the game play being analogous to checkers except a capturing move is made by surrounding an opponent's playing pieces with the capturing player's pieces in the triangular playing spaces provided upon the game board. In a patent issued by Eberle (U.S. Pat. No. 3,810,626) there is a game board disclosed which may vary in size and shape (e.g. square, rectangular, triangular, etc.). The Eberle game board may be folded so as to alter available sections of play such that the entire board, three-quarters, one-half, or one-quarter may be used for playing various levels of skill. Another game board composed of 58 connected and staggered hexagonal playing spaces is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,917,272 by Aldea. A further variation of a game board of a general rectangular or square playing surface with hexagonal playing spaces positioned at a 45 degree angle to one another is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,045,030 by Strozewski.
Recognizing the relatively simplistic but challenging attributes of kings checkers and the more complex and difficult game play of chess, the inventor created and developed a game played upon a game board embodying a unique hexagram and hexagonal playing space arrangement. The game board and its strategy of play combine the more desirable attributes of checkers and chess into a single game. The present game board and game play provides each player with two different classes of playing pieces. One class has greater flexibility in movement than the other class of playing pieces. Unlike checkers and chess, the complexity of the game play may be tailored to meet the required degree of playing skill simply by altering the available number of hexagonal playing spaces upon the game board. The game board may be suitably adapted for play by players ranging from pre-school age to mature adults. The game embodies easy-to-learn mechanics of play in combination with a complex strategy of play. The game board and the strategy of game play affords a wide variety of playing combinations and permutations so as to captivate the interest of the game players.